Hurricane Gustav was literally sitting on the Louisiana coast as dawn broke Monday morning, moving ashore near Grand Isle, La.
Just after 7 a.m., the eye of the storm was moving across the Louisiana coast with sustained winds of 115 miles per hour. Intense rain bands reportedly began to lash New Orleans about 6 a.m. and much of the area was without power.
While Gustav hit the Louisiana as a category 3 storm, it did not strengthen before coming ashore as some had feared. As many as 2 million people are estimated to have evacuated low-lying coastal areas of Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas in advance of the storm.
The center of the storm came ashore in predominantly rural Lafourche Parish and was expected to continue in a northwesterly direction across such communities as Houma, Morgan City, New Iberia and Lafayette as it heads inland. Most of the area is expected to experience 60 - 80 mph winds.
Local emergency management personnel were breathing easier, but not prepared to completely stand down, as the storm appears to have bypassed the greater Houston area.
The area is expected to see rainfall from the remnants of Gustav as it makes its way across central Louisiana and into eastern Texas on Tuesday.
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